The children loved Zip, their Collie-dog-friend. But sometimes he was a bother. He had to go everywhere they went, as he seemed to feel it was his job to take care of them, especially when they were in swimming. Again and again they would chase him out of the water, because he would grab their bathing suits in his teeth and tug them toward the shore. From the shore he would watch them playing in the water with a worried dog-look in his eyes.
One day while the children were swimming, Freddie found a sun-dried log that floated like a cork. He could swim a little, and a good log was really more fun than an inner tube. He paddled with his hands and feet and soon was out beyond the rest of the children who were in swimming. It made him feel brave to be out where the water was deep, and out there he could have his log all to himself.
But after a while it did not seem so much fun to be alone. The others seemed to be having fun playing a game of water tag together. So Freddie rolled off his log and began to swim toward the shore. He swam until he was tired and it seemed that he certainly must be in far enough to touch the bottom with his feet. He stopped kicking and let his feet go down.
Blub-b-blub! Oh! Where was the bottom? There was NOTHING to stand on! Not just his feet had gone down but his head had gone under, too. He splashed hard with his arms and tried to kick with his feet. Slowly his head came up out of the water, but just long enough for one good breath of air! Down he went again! He splashed hard again, but he just wasn’t able to make any progress.
Up and down he struggled in the water until he was so tired. Down, down, down! How could it be so deep? Freddie had never been so frightened in his whole life. Was he drowning? With eyes wide open he saw the big bubbles churning in the water around him.
He was coming up again, slowly. What was that? Something reddish brown was in the water beside him. Could it be?—it was—Zip’s tail!
Freddie reached out, and held on with all of the strength he had left. Zip seemed to understand. Straight to the shore he swam with Freddie clinging to his tail.
Freddie loved Zip even more after that. He had saved his life! He never would forget the awful feeling of reaching for the bottom of the lake with his feet and finding NOTHING to stand on!
Is that a little bit like the way people will feel who will someday stand before God to be judged of their sins? Because Freddie was a Christian he could say, “He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God.” Psalms 40:2,32He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. 3And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord. (Psalm 40:2‑3).
Freddie had learned when he was just a little boy that he was a sinner and could not save himself. He had read, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24).
Reaching out by faith, he had taken hold of God’s promise just as simply as he had taken hold of Zip’s tail, and the Lord had “rescued” him. Freddie was saved, and God’s Word told him that his feet were safely upon the Rock, Christ Jesus.
Will you someday have to face God with nothing—NOTHING—to stand on? Excuses, good works, friends—everything will fail in that day. Reach out by faith today, and take the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour.
ML-06/29/1980